Saturday, March 28, 2009

A short time ago son transferred from his old unit to a new unit at a base in the southwestern US. He's been settling in there, and the other day I got a call that brought the title of this piece to mind.

They'd been on the range and, this being a new rifle that hadn't had the Microlon treatment, it was going to be the usual M16 bitch to clean. So he went into town and bought a bottle of Hoppes #9. Then, while everyone else was scrubbing away he left the bolt sitting in the stuff for a while.

"What the hell you doing?"

"Just give it a couple of minutes."

Couple of minutes later he pulled it out, shook off the excess and wiped off the fouling everyone else was scrubbing at. Long pause."Where do we get that stuff? You got more?"

I snickered and said "Yeah, there's a reason Hoppes has been around so long."

even though this was when they said last night the snow would be ending after we got anywhere from 4-10" of the stuff, which we didn't so once again the panic-mongerersweather weenies have proven they so often don't have any real idea what it's going to do.

This is after most of them spent Wed through Thurs telling us "Maybe as much as 10-12" here in the metro area, this will be a MAJOR snow event!"

Friday, March 27, 2009

and conservative types has some holes in it. And really pissed people off.JEFFERSON CITY | The Missouri Highway Patrol this week retracted a controversial report on militia activity and will change how such reports are reviewed before being distributed to law enforcement agencies.

The Highway Patrol also will open an investigation into the origin of the report, which linked conservative groups with domestic terrorism and named former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.So they're not sure of the 'origin' of the report. How the hell did that happen?

The Highway Patrol’s announcement followed a news conference in which Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, suggested putting the director of public safety on administrative leave and investigating how the report was produced.What? Holding the boss responsible? That idea needs to spread.

But it suggested that domestic militias often subscribed to radical ideologies rooted in Christian views and opposition to immigration, abortion or federal taxes. The report also stated that it was “not uncommon” for militia members to support third-party political candidates.

The Highway Patrol’s superintendent, Col. James F. Keathley, released a memo saying the report did not meet the agency’s standard for quality and would not have been released if it had been seen by top officials.And just how did something like this get turned loose without you being aware of it? And what's in it? Damn.

The memo noted the report was compiled by an employee of the information analysis center and reviewed only by the center director before being sent to law enforcement agencies across the state.

So one person put this all together? And showed it to their director? Who apparently had no problem with it?

Before Keathley’s memo was released Wednesday, Kinder criticized the report for suggesting that only issues championed by conservatives motivated domestic terrorists. The report “slanders” opponents of abortion and critics of illegal immigration, he said.

“Under the guidance of the present director, who apparently must think it is Nixon’s secret service, the Department of Public Safety has taken on the new and sinister role of political profiling,” Kinder said.

Also troubling Kinder said, the report makes no mention of Islamic terrorists or those who might subscribe to ideologies associated with liberals, such as environmental radicals.And makes the blanket accusation that anyone who is part of a 'militia'- which definition seems to be 'anyone who makes the gummint agents nervous- is automatically to be suspected of being a terrorist. Especially since they're not politically-correct types like enviroweenie arsonists and islamic jew-haters and infidel-murderers.

The state’s response to the conservative outcry over the report evolved over the last few weeks. In one early response, the information analysis center released a statement reaffirming its “regard for the Constitutions of the United States and Missouri” and expressing regret that “any citizens or groups were unintentionally offended by the content of the document.”Wow, a genuine non-apology apology; isn't that wonderful?

Then earlier this week, Department of Public Safety Director John M. Britt retracted the portions that noted third party and Republican presidential candidates by name and sent letters of apology to the politicians."We're sorry we got all this bad publicity, will this help it go away?"

But even with the retraction and the investigation announced Wednesday, Britt should be suspended and the General Assembly should investigate how the report was prepared, Kinder said.

“Director Britt has still not answered any of the questions about what other reports may have been developed and the procedure behind these memos,” Kinder’s spokesman, Gary McElyea, said in a statement. “Until those questions are answered Mr. Britt should be placed on immediate leave.”

The red is blizzard warning, the pink is winter storm warning. Up in the far northwest & panhandle they're saying 3-7" today, another 4-8" of snow possible tonight. Here in Oklahoma City, 3-5" tonight, maybe another 1-2" tomorrow before it ends.

I don't think it'll get too bad here; the temps have been high enough, there's enough residual heat in the ground and streets a lot of it'll melt as it hits or shortly after, so I don't think the roads will get too bad. WHich is good for a variety of reasons.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Let's start with nannies:If California regulators get their way, auto makers may soon be forced to rewrite a cliché from the Ford Model T era and start telling customers they can have any color they want as long as it isn’t black.

Some darker hues will be available in place of black, but right now they are indentified internally at paint suppliers with names such as “mud-puddle brown” and are truly ugly substitutes for today’s rich ebony hues.Why?The problem stems from a new “cool paints” initiative from the California Air Resources Board. CARB wants to mandate the phase-in of heat-reflecting paints on vehicle exteriors beginning with the ’12 model year, with all colors meeting a 20% reflectivity requirement by the ’16 model year.

Because about 17 other states tend to follow California’s regulatory lead, as many as 40% of the vehicles sold in the U.S. could be impacted by the proposed directive, suppliers say.

The measure is aimed at reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and improving fuel economy by keeping vehicles cooler on sunny days and decreasing the amount of time drivers use their air conditioners.Which fits in with the nanny plan a while back to control the amount of electricity going to your house to control how much you use your a/c; never mind that crap like that will destroy equipment, It's for the children, and your own good!

On dirtbags, Sondra points to both politicians and Soros:‘I’m having a very good crisis,’ says Soros as hedge fund managers make billions off recession

George Soros said the current economic crisis has been the culmination of his life’s work

A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been ‘stimulating’ and the culmination of his life’s work.

George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse.As I recall, on more than one occasion this bastard has deliberately acted to screw some countries' economy and make a big profit doing so; would anyone be surprised if he were doing the same now to aid Obama?

And on morons, I present our Treasury Secretary. Add to that this clown demanding the power to take over any business he thinks necessary, and you have one of the more dangerous morons we've ever had in a position of power.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

dragged to the town square and flogged,The [government's] lawyer, Malcolm L. Stewart, said Congress has the power to ban political books, signs and Internet videos, if they are paid for by corporations and distributed not long before an election.

Mr. Stewart added that there was no difference in principle between the 90-minute documentary about Mrs. Clinton, “Hillary: The Movie,” and a 30-second television advertisement.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the government’s uncompromising position could have dire consequences for the McCain-Feingold law.

“If we think that the application of this to a 90-minute film is unconstitutional,” Justice Kennedy said, “then the whole statute should fall under your view because there’s no distinction between the two?”

Mr. Stewart said the two kinds of communications should rise or fall together, so long as each satisfied a test set out by the court in a decision in 2007. That decision said restrictions in the McCain-Feingold law applied only to communications “susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate.”...Stewart, his superiors who think this is a good idea, and every bastard who shoved McCain-Feingold down our throats, one at a time, preferably with a flagrum. Damn these people who want to control what we say.

conference will direct you to someone who covered it very well.Asked why he should have new authority to regulate financial institutions in light of the furor over the AIG bonuses, the President replied that “it is precisely because of the lack of this authority that the AIG situation has gotten worse.” One wonders why he thinks that is the case. The bonuses were expressly allowed by the stimulus package that Congress passed; indeed, the President’s own Treasury Secretary had Senator Chris Dodd place language in the stimulus package allowing for bailout recipients to get bonuses. One may potentially conclude, thanks to this Keystone Kops method of governance, that the best course of action would be to give the President and his Administration less power, not more, but of course, the Obama Administration is in no mood for logic.

That does not mean, however, that there should be any slackening in the effort to remind people that it was because of the Treasury Secretary’s insistence that bailout recipients get bonuses, the malleability of Senator Chris Dodd concerning the issue, and the failure of stimulus package proponents to even so much as read the bill they asked Congress to approve, that the AIG bonus tempest even became an issue. Having the President try to tell us that the AIG bonus tempest came about because the President lacked power is more than a little rich.andAsked by ABC’s Jake Tapper whether he would allow Congressional Democrats to strip the budget of both a middle-class tax cut and cap-and-trade, the President bobbed and weaved and did just about everything that he could not to answer the question. I think that cap-and-trade is lousy policy and prefer a particular carbon tax proposal above all, but it is quite newsworthy that the President appears to be forced to back away from his cap-and-trade proposal and his middle-class tax cut. Many people predicted that the President would find a way to ditch the latter–which served as a campaign promise last year–so the White House deserves some opprobrium over its potential failure to deliver on a key Obama campaign promise. The fact that the Administration is pledged to overturn the Bush tax cuts in 2011–despite the likelihood that economic growth won’t be nearly as robust as the Obama Administration claims it will be when the tax cuts are overturned–makes the rhetorical brickbats even more justified. The Obama Administration is clearly not all that invested in fighting for any kind of tax cuts, the parlous economic situation notwithstanding. Despite its claims to be against only “tax cuts for the rich,” the Administration appears to be allergic to tax cuts for anyone.

The blades are spring steel, the grips are antler with a slot cut, then a hole drilled through it and the blade for the pivot pin; the ends are riveted over brass washers. Top blade is 2.75" from antler to point, bottom is 3".

It's an old design I ran across years ago; the drawings I found were from the colonial/fur trade era here, but I'm pretty sure the design goes back quite a ways further.

Have you ever tried cutting a slot in antler? Well-seasoned hard antler? I'm using modern tools, and it's messy and something of a pain; doing it with a saw, chisels and files would have taken a lot of time and effort. Between achy hands and weather, only reason I got these done is that a while ago I got a cutoff tool that runs off my compressor; spins a 3" wheel that allowed me to get these done more easily than ever before. Used a hacksaw to cut the first part of the slot at the end(keeping that straight is fun), then you can set the ricasso into that and use it to line up the rest of the slot so it'll be straight. Then used the cutoff tool to cut the slot. Faster than before, but DAMN, that throws a lot of dust. White, fine dust that sticks on your jacket. And anything else it lands on.

These will be the last pieces I can work on before the fair, especially since they're now talking about the weather going to hell tomorrow night; colder, some rain, and a fair chance of snow Friday.

Tom Diaz, an analyst at the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group, said cartels use military-style weapons such as the Armalite AR-50, a .50-caliber sniper rifle.

He brought one to a recent congressional hearing — with the help of two police officers — and said he found the weapon on the Internet, bought it for $3,200 from a Maryland “kitchen table” dealer and had it registered in the District of Columbia, all in about six hours.

See, now they can see look how easy it is to get this gun. Well, it is if you hold a federal firearms license. After all, 50 caliber rifles are unlawful to possess in the District of Columbia unless you are a dealer or police agency.Yeah, that would explain why the VPC would have a FFL; so they can use it to legally buy firearms and then lie about how 'easy' it is to get them for a private citizen.

Of course, they're aided in their bullcrap by politicians who, by the way, don't think they should have to obey the laws the little people do:CHARLESTON — Controversy often inflames passions, and mindful of this lawless age and a propensity of some in society to go over the edge, a few lawmakers want the right to arm themselves without a weapons permit....Hunt decided to leave nothing to chance and get a firearm, but was told he had to wait during a two-month concealed weapon application process.

Despite the written threat, the man was released, but authorities picked him up a day later.

Hunt is a co-sponsor of HB3248, aimed at adding members of the Legislature to a list of officials and others who are allowed to skip the waiting period and carry a firearm.Pay attention to this:“I don’t have a concealed weapon, and no desire to carry one,” he said. “But I do believe we have the right to bear arms. I’m a firm believer in that. If the situation would arise and somebody would threaten me, I would feel better if I didn’t have to wait nine or 10 weeks to get a permit. I could just pick up my pistol, put it in my car and drive down the road without the fear of being prosecuted if I was caught.”Well, gee, you think maybe the peasants would like to be able to arm themselves without a ten-week wait if they're threatened? Or don't they count the way an important politician does? Your life and safety, your family is more important than theirs?

And please take note of all the sponsors:Besides Walker and Hunt, the bill is being sponsored by Delegates Tom Louisos, D-Fayette; Margaret Smith, D-Lewis; Daniel Hall, D-Wyoming; Stan Shaver, D-Preston; and Doug Skaff Jr., D-Kanawha.jGee, all Democrats who think they should have exemption from the law everybody else has to obey, isn't that interesting?

seem to be among the main things our 'staffed by professional journalists' media are good at. Insty has been noting the way they either bury the news of the tea parties, or just don't report it. Very unprofessional, and very biased:...But the real reason the major media aren’t interested in these protests is that they don’t agree with them. In the final analysis, these affairs are really taking issue with the political party they helped elect without hiding bias in the last election.

That’s why a small scrum of Acorn-financed wackos on a bus tour to intimidate AIG execs last weekend made the news while the tea parties didn’t.And every time people take notice that their protest isn't considered 'news', or that they're painted as wild-eyed government-hating radicals, they- if they didn't know it before- decide the major media can't be trusted, and the newspapers and networks lose more readers/listeners. Which the majors either don't believe, or consider it worth it to protect their personal investments in Obama and socialism.

And the majors have no problem repeating the lie that the Mexican drug cartels are getting their weapons from the US:The blockade of contraband will now be a two-way effort. The fence begun under the Bush administration will be completed, to deter smugglers of drugs and workers. But the new emphasis will be on disrupting the southbound flow of profits and weapons that fuel the cartels.So stopping illegals coming here, and all the crap they smuggled in and all the crimes they commit wasn't worth adding to our border protections, but supposedly protecting Mexico from the actions of us evil US people is. Isn't it wonderful?

But it didn't satisfy Gov. Rick Perry, who reiterated his request Tuesday for "an immediate deployment of 1,000 additional National Guard troops to support civilian law enforcement and Border Patrol agents."

He'll meet with Napolitano on Thursday in Texas, and she'll ask him to make his case that violence in Mexico – especially in Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso – warrants more drastic measures. More than 7,000 Mexicans have died in the last 15 months.

"Why 1,000?" she said. "Where did that number come from? Where in Texas? Texas has a huge border with Mexico. And what does he anticipate the Guard doing?"Uh, because it spills over in to the US? Because a thousand troops patrolling/stationed at appropriate places could discourage a lot of the smuggling and catch a bunch of crooks? And I rather doubt Perry just said "Give me a thousand troops to spread around!"; I'd imagine he's made specific note of how and where he wants to put them, but God knows that's not good enough; if they just say that, Napolitano doesn't get a chance to have a press conference and act important after the meet. Sheesh.

But screw all that: they've got a compulsion- or orders- to blame the bad on us, especially guns in Mexico, because that lets various politicians and groups claim a need to screw gun owners in the US 'to save Mexico'; and because that helps the Mexican government keep blaming us for their problems. Never mind all the deserters from the Mexican Army, never mind all the weapons they take with them- or come back and steal from the armory- because noting that doesn't advance the agenda of blaming gun owners and shops in the US for the problem. Remember this from the LA Times story:Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semiauto- matic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. . . . The enhanced weaponry represents a wide sampling from the international arms bazaar, with grenades and launchers produced by U.S., South Korean, Israeli, Spanish or former Soviet bloc manufacturers. Many had been sold legally to governments, including Mexico’s, and then were diverted onto the black market. Some may be sold directly to the traffickers by corrupt elements of national armies, authorities and experts say.They know the facts. If they bother to check at all on this, and on the laws and the number of automatic firearms available in the US, they know; but they keep telling the lies anyway.

I guess ignoring the tea parties and lying about and crapping on gun owners is one of the ways they're sucking up to the Obama administration and hoping to be bailed out of their sinking ship they drilled holes in the hull of.

Usually I don't bother with the frosting, as the cake is damn good by itself. But with the frosting... damn.

The reason for no picture is I baked the cake this afternoon and took it to lodge this evening. Small group made it, but there's only two small pieces left. So if you want to see what it looks like, get to baking.

"We already have it in the VA, why can't everybody have it?" They don't seem to want to deal with things like this; do YOU want morons like this controlling your care?Veterans who got colonoscopies through the Miami VA medical system are at risk of being infected with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV through the procedure, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek's office.

The VA on Monday afternoon contacted Meek to inform him that the medical equipment used for the procedures were not cleaned per the manufacturer's recommendations. As many as 3,260 veterans underwent the procedure between May 2004 and this month.

And anyone want to take bets as to whether anyone will be disciplined over this? In any meaningful way?

Oh, and take note of two of the comments:And this from the country that crows about having the best medical care in the world!Archie being one of those who don't want to deal with the fact that this kind of crap seems to be the norm with socialized health care.

And when a guy posted Why is it we only revere veterans while they are in a combat zone and so soon forget them when they come back home?, a friggin' moron who goes by Dharmadhatu repliedWoody - Nobody feels comfortable around people willing to murder other human beings for money. That's why we only care about them when they're in a combat zone.... It's also why they're there and we aren't - because we know that murder is wrong no matter whether you call it war, abortion, capital punishment or anything else!So there we have, in all its shining glory, the mindset of the moonbats. How much you want to bet this is one of the jerkwads who thinks self-defense is wrong if you use anything other than words? And that a woman using a gun to protect herself against a rapist is just 'continuing the cycle of violence' and as morally wrong as her attacker? And probably wants the government in control of health care 'because it will be more fair', despite the examples- likethis- of how well that works?

In a comment to the previous, Marja wrote this:Make sure that you'll keep that right. I live in Northern Europe and don't have it. I think one of the best things about internet is the fact that I have found out I'm not nuts because I believe I should have the right to carry, and the right to defend myself even with lethal force if necessary, that there actually is good evidence that having that right won't lead to chaos and blood on the streets but rather the opposite. Perhaps, with enough time, the people here will start getting over that false belief, too. I'm not holding my breath though.

No, you're not nuts. One of the most basic rights of anyone anywhere is the right to self-defense. And, even though it causes great need to change diapers among many politicians, GFWs and socialists(definite overlapping of groups there), that right doesn't just imply, it requires the right to the means of self-defense. Which can mean anything from appropriate words to a weapon capable of lethal force.

I wish you well in this, but I'm not holding my breath either. While back I read part of some EU document that deigned to mention the concept of self-defense; in the most denigrating terms, of course, and being very damn careful to limit it in every way they could think of. After all, in the EUnuchs(and other socialists) minds, you're supposed to trust in the all-seeing, all-knowing government to show up and save you. And if they can't do it, you're supposed to be content with the minions of government cleaning up the mess(including your body in the worst case). It's going to take some kind of severe shock in most countries to cause enough people to go after the governments hard enough to throw out the horrendous restrictions of the right of self-defense, and the politicians(most of them) will fight it tooth and nail, because- even more than other things- it would mean a lessening of their power over others.

In a way, it makes the attacks on the 2nd Amendment and self-defense here even worse; they're not only trying to restrict-take away those rights from us, I think a good many of them want to because it will also remove an example that many people in other countries look to, and makes them wonder how that right was taken from them? And how might they get it back?

Been around before, but, considering the guy who e-mailed this to me is a 20+ year police officer, I thought I'd put it up.

Why I Carry a Gun

My old grandpa said to me, "Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'."

I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so thatI don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to Heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun becauseI love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

"Police Protection" is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. Police do not protect you from crime; they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess. Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'.... author unknown (but obviously brilliant)

Monday, March 23, 2009

AND dangerous:The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a plan to set up a new “volunteer corps” and consider whether “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people” should be developed.

The legislation also refers to “uniforms” that would be worn by the “volunteers” and the “need” for a “public service academy, a 4-year institution” to “focus on training” future “public sector leaders.” The training, apparently, would occur at “campuses.”

I am going to fall back into bad language, here:To every jackass in the House who voted for this, fuck you. And the horse you rode in on. You're a betrayer of this country, and should be kicked out of that office with steel-toed boots. Besides all the other bullshit in this, it's just amazing how they seem to not understand that 'mandatory' means it's not 'voluntary'; it is involuntary servitude. And for endorsing it, you should be tied to a whipping post in the town square and reminded that you're not our damned boss.

will do, but damn!US President Barack Obama has indirectly praised former French president Jacques Chirac's fierce opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, the online edition of the daily Le Figaro reported on Thursday.

In a letter described by Chirac as 'very nice,' Obama wrote, 'I am certain that we will be able to work together, in the coming four years, in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world.'

The use of the word 'peace' was taken to be an indirect reference to Chirac's stance against the US intervention in Iraq, which Obama had also opposed as senator.Chirac. The former president of France. Who actually had marches by the French calling him a worm for his backstabbing and double-dealing. Who epitomizes the cheese-eating surrender monkey theme. And Obama pisses off the current President of France to do this.

Incompetence, corruption, stupidity, or a mix of all three? Or is sucking up to Chirac so important to Obama that he'd knowingly screw things up?

Update: Found this at Fausta,

OK, so here are the facts:

Obama’s letter was sent on March 20, the anniversary of the Iraq war.

The US still has troops in Iraq defending that country, and those troops are not only fighting but actively engaged in building a civil society.

Each and any action by the Obama administration will be closely examined. Publicly approaching a private foundation with language that can be interpreted as being against the US presence in Iraq actively undermines that effort.

Additionally,

Nicolas Sarkozy came to power by running not only against the Socialists, but by actually running against Chirac within Chirac’s own party. Is it a good idea to publicly “extend a hand” to Chirac, then?

And let’s not forget that Chirac’s foundation strongly promotes the globalisation tax, a tax on wealth generated by globalization:

“It could be a tax on airplane tickets, on carbon dioxide, on health products sold in industrialised countries, and indeed on international financial transactions,” one source said.

Let's see, two corrupt politicians working together... both seem to have admiration for socialist dictators... both seem to like the idea of taxes on wealth(and objects, and labor, and everything else)...

Sunday, March 22, 2009

First, Theo pointed to Afghanistan Shrugged:Over time I’ve received emails and comments on this blog that I’m insensitive to your culture. Evidently, I should endeavor to be more tolerant and politically correct in my quest to kill you with every means at my disposal.

After much self reflection I’ve seen the error in my ways and thought I’d write you a brief note to apologize for my actions and those of my compatriots in Team Vampire. I now see how my attempts to incinerate, ventilate and generally cause mayhem could possible hurt your feelings and offend your sensibilities. For that I apologize....I also, thought that your headquarters were nice. Blowing it up on Christmas Eve may have seemed arbitrary and unfair. I can see how you’d think that. Really, let’s try to be honest with each other. Is there really a good day to have your building blown up? I don’t think there is. I also now realize that you don’t celebrate Christmas so the holiday season had minimal impact on you.

It did for me as I have a family at home who I’d rather be with; instead hunting you through the mountains. However, I’m here so it seemed like a good thing to do for the holidays. I may not see you on the 4th of July so I thought it best to have fireworks for Christmas. I empathize with you now that it may have been inconvenient for you. Once again sorry.And so on, well worth reading.

Second, Insty pointed to this:A few days after Barack Obama's inauguration, the newly appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, gave an interview to Essence magazine. Ms. Jackson explained that she planned to "elevate the issue" of "environmental justice" during her tenure. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, environmental justice is the sweet spot where the green movement meets the racial grievance industry. As the Essence interviewer put it: "The practice of locating polluting industries in minority communities -- and the consequent health impacts -- is well documented. African Americans are almost 80 percent more likely than White Americans to live in neighborhoods near hazardous industrial pollution sites."

The concept of environmental justice can be traced back to the early '80s, according to Robert Bullard, the director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. He cites a 1982 fight over a landfill in Warren County, N.C. Since then, the movement has blamed industrial plants across the country for skyrocketing asthma rates among inner-city blacks. But Mr. Bullard believes that environmental justice should also include a concern about the lack of public parks in inner cities and high childhood obesity rates among blacks (stemming from fewer supermarkets in their neighborhoods). He refers to those fights as "parks justice" and "food justice." Talk about defining justice down.Yes, we have a bunch of flat-out nutcase-level racist morons running departments in D.C.; might as well have Security Staff in charge of the groceries.

Third, that's it for tonight. I received a very late call last night, which led to working a 12-hour shift; I've had about a 15-minute nap(before the phone rang) since about 0730 yesterday morning and I'm so tired my eyes are crossing. Amuse yourselves in my absence and clean up your mess.

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.